


All Out War

by mysticaljayne



Series: Excalibur [8]
Category: Charmed
Genre: Brothers, Excalibur, F/M, Gen, Sisters, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-22
Updated: 2018-11-08
Packaged: 2018-11-17 05:55:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11269314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mysticaljayne/pseuds/mysticaljayne
Summary: A few years have passed with Giniver la Fey under the care of the Halliwell family. A lot has happened, and yet nothing really has. A bending of the rules takes the family down a path of blood, pain, and death.A continuation from the earlier pieces in this series, but can be read alone.





	1. Chapter 1

**Manor Doorsteps:**

“Wy, you can’t be serious.” Chris admonishes his brother for maybe the seventh time since Wyatt decided to give voice to his not so thought out plan.

 

Wyatt pauses on the steps to the Manor. “Of course I am. I need a girl that isn’t our sister or cousin. Or, well, anybody that Em could possibly know of. Ginny fits that description.”

 

Chris kept following his brother, but protesting the whole time. “Okay, bro, there are multiple problems with this plan of yours.” Em, short for Emily, was the girl Wyatt had been dating for the past four months and who he had planned on going to Prom with. A normal girl who eventually broke up with him after Wyatt cancelled the third date in a row. Chris doesn’t blame her for that, but nor can he blame Wyatt. It’s not like they can tell whoever they start dating about magic. Too many consequences for that.

 

“Like what?” Wyatt pauses on the steps to give his brother a look. Sometimes Chris thinks that they should have been born in a different order the way Wyatt thinks things through.

 

Chris likes to think he got the brains while his brother got the magical brawn. Mel always claims that she inherited all the brains, because her brothers sure didn’t get it. “Like…how there are two demons that really want to capture her?” Technically not demons, one was more like a darklighter and the other a highly immune human.

 

Wyatt waved a hand as though wiping away that problem. “We have the amulet.”

 

Chris rolled his eyes at that. “Untested amulet.”

 

“Great time to test it, then. I’ll be with her.” Wyatt told his brother with his very Wyatt-logic, which means not logical at all. “Anything else?”

 

Chris fought with himself to voice his other objection. He didn’t want to know Wyatt’s response to the other problem that he found, and thought could, and should, be a problem in Wyatt’s little plan. “What if she says no?”

 

Wyatt scoffed, actually scoffed, at that. “She won’t.”

 

“How do you know?” Chris asked, not really wanting to know the answer but needing it anyway. Wyatt’s plan depended on their questionable amulet and Ginny actually wanting to go with the idiot that kept standing her up on training.

 

Wyatt smirked at his little brother. “Because I’m the Wielder, Chris. She obeys any order I give. You know that.”

 

Chris felt anger rise, and it wouldn’t take much for his powers to sling something across the room to give the build up a bit of a release. It’s not right, even if it was true.

 

No one had taught Ginny that she could outright refuse a direct order from Wyatt. In some ways, the girl still thought that they were in her time with those rules. To her, Wyatt was like King Arthur, someone that had to be obeyed, even if they shouldn’t be.

 

 

**Magic School Training Area:**

Ginny did an upper cut with her sword into the mannequin that was to be her opponent that day. All of the Halliwells had something planned, and with her bound? Yeah, the mannequin had the joy of getting her frustration out on. Wyatt was bonding with Excalibur as much as Chris was bonding with the wooden one. Which is to say, not at all.

 

Excalibur wasn’t hunting down its wayward Wielder, and the Halliwells thought that was a good sign, but Ginny knew better. She remembered what happened right before The War. She remembered how Excalibur went silent to all but Lancelot. She remembers…

 

Orbs announce one of many possible arrivals, but only one has her want to smile. The others? Well, some could make her grin but one could usually just make her furious.

 

Unlucky for her, it was the one that almost constantly made her furious with his lack of responsibility. Wyatt Matthew Halliwell, the first born to the Charmed sisters, and the Wielder to Excalibur reforms in front of her with a wide smile. “Hey, Ginny. Want to go dancing?”

 

The people in this age grow up a lot differently than she herself did all those years ago. “I am not much up to dancing, milord.” Ginny gives a half-bow to him in turn, remembering to be obedient at the last moment.

 

Anger has a bad habit of making her forget her manners, but she’s not going to forget this time. Anyway, he wasn’t scheduled to train for another day. No reason for her to get upset at him for appearing early (or perhaps late if she was thinking of last week’s training that he had to cancel for a game).

 

“There’s not going to be much dancing.” Wyatt shrugged, looking around the area with an annoyed look. “Anyway, aren’t you tired of being stuck in here all the time?”

 

The anger that she always keeps a tight hold of threatens to loosen and break free, but she stamps it back down. This isn’t the place, or the time, for such childish deeds. “My accommodations are fine, lord.” The place is a lot different than what she grew up in, but not as bad as what could be.

 

Ginny has an idea of what her sisters are capable of. No need to give them anymore keys than they already have to destroy this family that has been so kind. Though wayward in being prepared.

 

Wyatt turns back to her, his expression a cross between incredulity and annoyance. “Really? I usually can’t wait to get away from here. Come on, Gin. It’ll be a change of scenery.” His tone would usually work an everyone else.

 

It would have worked on her, if she hadn’t heard it enough times over the last few years. “That it would be, milord.” Ginny bows, careful to keep her anger tight even though his use of the nickname that usually only Chris would use had her clench her teeth in annoyance.

 

She turns, about to go back to doing something other than listening to Wyatt try to convince her that leaving this safe area was a good idea when he says something that has her pause.

 

“Would making it an order help you say yes?” Wyatt gives the question in a not-so-serious manner, but the words are enough to remind her of ranking.

 

Wyatt wields Excalibur. Trainers obey whoever wields the sword.

 

Against every piece of common sense that she has, Ginny goes ahead and nods. “Very well, my lord.” Her movements being carefully choreographed to not give away any of her private thoughts, the young trainer returns her weapon to its station. He’s still standing there when she turns back to him. His look is questioning, but what is there to question? “I will go dancing with you.” Even if she cannot fathom the why of doing such a thing was so important.

 

“Great!” His face broke into a giant smile, and even annoyed, Ginny couldn’t stop the small one from trying to form on her face to answer his. “I’ll have Mel find something for you. See ya’!”

 

Dancing…hopefully nothing too awful would come of this. If Ginny was luck, which she hasn’t been, the dance will be more like a family affair at one of the places that have been warded.

 

Not likely, but something to put the small trickle of unease to the back of her mind. Nothing to be done about it but follow the order and hope to be fast enough to avoid a chance of blood shed.


	2. Chapter 2

**Manor:**

“What is this?” Ginny held up one of the dresses that Mel had laid out on the bed for her to go through. They were close in size, but not exact.

 

Mel glanced over from where she had been doing homework at her desk. “A dress.” She answered before going back to reading about ancient Mesopotamia.

 

Ginny looked down at the thing, her face scrunched up in confusion. “This is something that you would wear to a formal occasion?”

 

Mel looked back up again with a sigh. “No. That’s what I would wear if my brothers and mother ever let me actually go out.” She put the book to the side, giving up on finishing her reading for now. “I like black. Goes with everything and looks nice for almost every occasion.” She looked at it some more before shaking her head. “Nothing I have will work.”

 

Ginny forced a smile and placed the dress back on the bed. She flipped her long braid over her shoulder to fiddle with it in nervous habit that she never broke herself from. “I’m sure it will be…”  


“Nope.” Mel started going through the dresses and slinging them across the bed without seeming to care about how messed up it will get. “Nothing I have will work for prom. Nothing. Ugh.” She flung the dresses as she proceeded to go through them again. Suddenly she stops and looks at a wide eyed Ginny. “We’ll just have to go shopping.”

 

Ginny stared at the Wielder’s sister for a moment, still not sure of how to respond. “Sh—shopping?”

 

“Yeah. Shopping.” Mel answered as she motioned for Ginny to follow her to the door. “You have the amulet on, right?”

 

Ginny mutely nodded, touching the necklace with the amulet hanging from it in shock.

 

“Great.” Mel grabbed her cell phone from where it had been laying on the bedside table. “Then today will be a good test for it.” She poked her head out the door, “Mom! Think we can go dress shopping today? I have nothing for Ginny to borrow!”

 

“Um, not today, Mel.” Piper yells up the stairs. “You can ask your Aunt Phoebe, though. I think she’s free.”

 

“Great.” Mel turns with a bright smile on her face. “Aunt Phoebe always picks out the coolest styles. You’ll be in style in no time.”

 

Ginny looks at the dresses on the bed, but forces a cautious smile for her friend. “I’m sure one of those dresses would be fine, Mel. Really.”

 

“No.” Mel shook her head, her eyes bright in plans that Ginny doesn’t dare think too much into. “Wyatt told me to make you gorgeous. Drool worthy. Then that’s what we’re going to do.”

 

 

 

**Dress Store:**

“What do you think?” Mel holds up a green dress that leaves very little to the imagination and definitely not in the school’s dress code. She holds the dress up to herself before putting it up to Ginny’s body to look at with a critical eye.

 

The question isn’t really for Ginny, but more for Mel’s aunt Phoebe that had joined them. “I’m not sure… You know what Wyatt has?”

 

Mel rolls her eyes at that. “A suit. Dad insisted that he actually look like a gentleman and not an idiot in jeans.”

 

Phoebe smirks at the wording, joining in on the joke. “’Idiot in jeans’? I doubt Leo said that.”

 

Mel doesn’t look up from her phone, but does smile. “Yeah. Well, maybe dad didn’t use those exact words.” She scrolls for a second before looking up with a shrug. “I’m paraphrasing.”

 

Phoebe rolls her eyes at her niece before focusing on Ginny with a smile. “What colors do you like?” Ginny shyly smiles, but still isn’t completely comfortable.

 

This is still unfamiliar territory. Self-consciously, she touches the amulet at her neck. Phoebe glances at the movement, but doesn’t comment. “I guess…I guess something to go with this?” She holds it up enough for them to look at the colors and design.

 

The amulet is glows like a fire is inside of it, but only if you turn it a certain way. The stone is held into place by knotted gold that seems to enhance the fire-like quality. Makes sense for a dragon’s stone to hold a bit of flame inside, with the Triquetra of the Charmed Ones holding in their blessing of concealment.

 

Phoebe nods and Mel puts up her phone to join in on the search. They pull out dress after dress, making a pile for Ginny to try on. They were going to find the dress to make the girl feel beautiful, and wanted, even if she’s had to spend most of her life concealed within different sets of walls.

 

The first dress was deemed too conservative.

 

The second showed just a bit too much.

 

The third dress didn’t fit correctly.

 

They had Ginny try on every dress before finally the three ladies had it narrowed down to one. Mel nodded when Ginny walked out with it on, positive that it would work. It looked a lot better than something that she would find in her closet.

 

Phoebe was the one to help straighten it out, and to pull with a smile. This dance would probably be the only time that the girl would get the chance to be ‘normal’. At least as normal as someone could get being born in a different time.

 

“You like it?” Mel asks, standing behind Ginny as she looks at herself in the mirror. The other girl softly smiles, a little surprised at how different she looked after putting on something so different than the robes she usually wore.

 

Ginny nods. It’s different, but not a bad different. She still thought that the other dresses in Mel’s closet would have worked just as well.

 

 

**Training Area:**

Chris raise up his training sword and blocked the hit coming at his face. “I still don’t get it.” He pushed back and goes for an attack that’s also just as quickly blocked.

 

“Get what?” Ginny twists her own sword in a way that just a few days ago would have had Chris’s flying out of his hands and onto the floor. This time, it stays in his hand and he merely smirks.

 

This time, he knew how to counter that trick. “Why you agreed to go with Wy.” He tries to push her further back so that his longer reach would be to his benefit. Instead, she keeps within range. “Didn’t know you liked dancing.”

 

Ginny twisted, somehow, and Chris’s sword slid across the floor. “I learned how to dance at Arthur’s court. Never cared much for it.” Chris waves his hand and the sword flies back to him. “Preferred archery. Or helping mum make potions for the villagers.”

 

“You don’t talk about her very much.” Chris suddenly said, focusing on Ginny’s choice of words and losing track of the conversation for a moment. “Your mom.”

 

She sadly smiled at him before starting her way to cleaning and putting up the practice swords for the day. “She never cared for Court. Gweniver loved training there. Morgana…she, um, wanted Mordred to be near, his, uh…”

 

“Father?” Chris supplied, and Ginny nodded with a thankful smile sent his way.

 

“During training, the story goes that Arthur fell in love with Morgana.” Ginny tells him, making sure everything is put back exactly where it belongs. “Our mother never told her her father’s other name. Mum never thought that they would be in the same time again, so shouldn’t be a problem.”

 

“Same time?” Chris asks, taking the cleaning cloth from her to help with cleaning one of the throwing knives. Definitely not the conversation he had been leading to, but he wasn’t oppose to it. Ginny came from a time of legends, but hardly ever seemed willing to tell any stories.

 

Suddenly she stops and looks at him with wide eyes. “You don’t know?” He pauses, too, and looks at her in confusion.

 

“Know what?”

 

“Morgana was born two hundred years before Arthur, and one hundred before Uther – their father.” Ginny explains, uncertain as Chris still stares at her. “It’s why she was able to wield the sword.”

 

“What?”

 

“White-lighter blood.” Ginny told him, hand going up to fiddle with the amulet. “Surely it is the legends? It’s why white-lighters were banned from being with charges. Especially their witch ones.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Training Area:**

“So, what you’re telling me is that anyone of white-lighter blood can wield Excalibur?” Chris breaks the awkward silence that had started after Ginny’s had spoken.

 

“Not exactly.” Ginny twisted the necklace in her hand before suddenly jerking her hand away from it. “The true wielder is different than a secondary one, and they cannot be full blooded. Excalibur was created from light, bound with earth, forged by flame, cooled by blood, and kissed by both life and death. A true pacifist wouldn’t be able to wield it for long without the power of the sword overwhelming them.”

 

Chris went back to fiddling and straightening the practice weapons that were already perfectly in place. “You mean turn evil, right?”

 

“No.” Ginny reached out and stopped him from moving one of the throwing knives before she jerked back as if burnt. “Not quite. The only ones that ever turned evil after wielding the sword were full blooded warriors. Mum wrote how you needed at least a touch of pure light for the sword to be unable to corrupt you.” She stepped suddenly even further away from him before glancing up at the clock on the wall. “Mel told me to be at The Manor in fifteen.”

 

Chris gripped his hands at his sides and glanced at the clock himself. “We could always say we got caught up in practice?”

 

Ginny’s smile was small and very shy as she quickly glanced away from his impish expression. “And lie? I’ve never been a good liar, Christopher.”

 

“Told you, call me Chris.” Chris starts the ongoing argument with a hint of fondness that came from years of going over something that they both know isn’t growing old anytime soon. “You need a lift?” He holds out his arm for Ginny to grab at any point.

 

She reaches forward to wrap a hand around his offered elbow. “You should be grateful I don’t call you lord, Lord Christopher.” Ginny tells him his title with a bit of mischievousness in her tone.

 

 

**The Manor:**

Chris watched as his sister and cousins pulled Ginny away from him with giggles. He remembered her looking over her shoulder with a bit of panic in her eyes before he forced a reassuring smile and had seemed to calm her enough to let the girls drag her up the stars.

 

That had been two hours ago. Seriously. How long does it take to change into a dress? It shouldn’t be much longer, even though Chris is starting to think that his mom has frozen the clock at this point. Or at least the thing is broken.

 

Considering how many times it had been blown up? Yeah, Chris wouldn’t put it past the clock to have finally just given up on staying fixed. Poor clock…

 

Wy plops down beside him on the couch with a cut off laugh. “You know how the girls get. Why would Ginny be any different?”

 

Chris looked at his brother in annoyance, his lips pursed in an expression of displeasure nearly identical to their mom’s. “You’re the one taking her to the dance thing. Isn’t it supposed to start soon?” The look Wyatt sent him told him that Chris hadn’t been covering the animosity in his tone as well as he thought he had been.

 

He watched as Wyatt open his mouth to respond but close it at the sound of stomping feet. “Guys!” Mel’s voice came from up the stairs. “You ready?”

 

“Been ready, Mellie!” Wyatt answered for them both and Chris slumped even further into the couch. Wyatt gave him a sideways look but didn’t respond except to change his look to one of confused consideration.

 

“Bleh.” Mel mouthed off, already running down the stairs. “You can’t rush perfection.” Behind her, acting as if the shadows could swallow her, Ginny walked down at a more sedate pace.

 

The dress hugged her in ways that churned Chris’s stomach, especially when combined with the unsure and very uncomfortable smile that looked more forced than anything. The dress fit her but didn’t fit HER. The coloring matched well with her own, but not the person that he knew under the layers. Ginny looked less like she was going to a dance and more to an execution.

 

Wyatt stood beside him and Chris stumbled to his feet just as Ginny reached the bottom of the stairs. “Beautiful.” Wy gave the compliment and she nodded her head so that her gaze was on the floor.

 

If she said…

 

“Thank you, milord.” Ginny answered, sounding like a robot.

 

Chris and Mel locked eyes at that with both turning to Wyatt with identical looks of anger. The looks faded a bit when Wyatt took her arm with a laugh. “Wyatt, or Wy. I know I’ve told you that more than once, Gin.”

 

Chris only noticed the stiffening because of how many times the two of them had faced off with weapons. The slightest change in a person’s stance could easily reveal their next move moments before they had the chance to start an attack.

 

“Course, Wyatt.” Ginny answered, her old accent coming back with a vengeance. “Whatever you wish.” She looked around the room, her expression turning more confused at how everyone else in the room were wearing their regular clothing. “Is no one else going?”

 

Wyatt wrapped an arm around her bare shoulders and Chris noticed the clenching of her hands before they suddenly relaxed. “Nope. Just you and me. That should be fun, right?” His voice rose at the end. Chris would like to say that is was because his brother was just being a jerk, but he could hear the apprehension. He really wants this to be fun…

 

Ginny just looks down at where her hands are folded at her waist. “This clothing isn’t practical in case of a fight, my…Wyatt.” She caught herself at the end before looking up to catch Chris’s eye with her own. Her smile was for him in how it was both a warning and reassurance. “I have no place for a weapon.”

 

“You can always conjure one.” Wyatt answered, as if it really didn’t matter.

 

“Apporate.” Mel, Chris, and Ginny automatically corrected.

 

Ginny was the one to add to the correction. “Conjuring is creating, Wyatt. Apportation is what I do when I ‘conjure’ a weapon. I do not create it, but merely bring it from one location to my own. It is similar to what your Aunt Paige does when she orbs an object.”

 

“Whatever.” Wyatt shook off the lesson with a slight pull towards the door. “Doesn’t matter. You won’t need weapons tonight, you’ll have me.”

 

Chris isn’t sure who rolled their eyes the hardest…him or Mel. It was a really close tie. Real close.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm changing up the time lines that I had set up, and expanding a bit on certain of pieces that I wasn't originally going to be expanding on.
> 
> I love hearing feedback. It gives me a line of whether I should call it quits or keep going on a story.


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